Pokemon: Ash's Different Beginning
by noorm
Summary: Unlike most stories where Ash gets a Super rare starter for being late, which is more of a reward than anything else, in this story, Ash gets a punishment. Oak not believing such an unresponsible trainer could handle Pikachu, gave him a Magikarp. Where will this lead?


_**Chapter 1**_

The night before Ash was set to receive his first Pokémon Ash was having trouble going to sleep. He was thinking, '_It's finally here, the day that I get to begin my Pokémon journey, and my first step to becoming a Pokemon Master. I wonder what kind of Pokémon I should choose...there's the fire-type Charmander, which evolves into Charizard, a Fire and Flying type Pokémon. Then there's Bulbasaur, a pretty good all-rounder. Squirtle is out of the question, it evolves into the super-slow Blastoise. Ah well, I guess might as well just decide between the two by de-petalling a flower tomorrow. Now...off to sleep...zzzz _'

At 10 o'clock the next day Delia called out "Ash, if you don't get up now you're not going to be able to receive a Pokémon from professor oak!"

Ash's eyes shot open as he thought '_That's today!_' he then threw the quilt off his bed and, grabbing a piece of toast off the kitchen bench, blasted through the front door and ran, still in his pyjamas, to Professor Oak's Laboratory in the hopes that there was still one Pokémon left for him to choose from. When he got there it was to see Gary leaving Professor Oak's Laboratory, kissing a Pokéball as he was surrounded by cheerleaders. Ash went up to him and asked, "So Gary, did you get a Pokémon too?"

"Yeah, I sure did Ashy-boy, and if you'd been on time you'd know that I got the best, and the last, one!"

"The best one! What was that?"

"Hah, you snooze you lose, later Ashy-boy."

Ash growled in irritation as Gary drove off in a car with an entire cheer squad as passengers.

As Ash was about to yell something at Gary's disappearing car Professor Oak came out of the gates to his Lab and took a step back in alarm as he said, "Ash! You're here!"

"Well, yeah, this _is_ the day that I've been waiting for for most of my life."

"Well...I'm sorry, but there are no more starter Pokémon here."

"Huh?"

"Well, they all got taken by trainers that, like Gary, were on time."

"Oh come on, I've just got to have a Pokémon...I don't care what it is!"

"Well, alright, there is one..." Professor Oak trailed of thoughtfully. In truth, Prof. Oak didn't think Ash was cut out to be a trainer. Ash was far from responsible, and didn't know a thing about pokemon battling, like type advantages, geography , etc. This was reinforced by the fact that Ash couldn't even be bothered to get out of bed on time to get his starter, and then showed up in his pajama's.

Oak believed that Ash was only in it because pokemon battling was 'cool'. There was no way Ash would be able to handle the wild and energetiPikachu he had, so this left one other Pokemon. A Magikarp, the worlds most useless Pokemon.

The basic definition of magikarp was that it was weak and useless. It had weak swimming muscles. To weak to swim against the current and is usually carried away to ponds. The only move it knows is splash, which was useless for anything other than jumping. It was a miracle the species had not died out.

After taking one look at it, Ash should quit becoming a trainer and either wait until next year, when he would hopefully mature a bit, or stay out of it all together.

It was with this in mind that Oak gave Ash the Magikarp.

"Karp, karp." Magikarp used the only move it knew, splash, flopping up and down.

Ash's previously excited look fell a little, gaining a downcast look. Oak felt a bit guilty.

"Look, Ash, I'm sorry but this is the only Pokemon we have right know. Magikarp, is a virtually useless pokemon due to only being born a few days ago, and won't be battle ready for months. Your choices are simple. If you head out know, you'll probably end up dead by annoying the wrong group of pokemon, like Spearows. Your second choice would be to train Magikarp in Pallet, using ponds and lakes. Your third choice would be to leave right know and hope you luck out and catch a pokemon." Oak finished.

Ash looked down, his hat shadowing his face. Unlike what Oak thought, Ash did indeed study. Becoming a Pokemon trainer had been his dream forever, and he had studied the basics. He knew about Magikarps and was currently contemplating the pro's and cons of accepting.

If he declined he would be stuck in his house for another year.

If he accepted, he would need to train his Magikarp before it reached level 20 and evolved. If it did evolve into Garydos, he could breeze through the first 3 or 4 gyms.

Ash looked up, fire in his eyes. Give me Magikarp.


End file.
